The past two weeks or so had been hectic as they dealt with two human sex trafficking rings, one out of Chinatown, and one out of Steve Getz's modelling business that ended up in a mess. The Getz case hadn't even gone to trial before the man hung himself in his cell, although not before the mess got Rollins kidnapped while she was seeing her therapist. And Rafael had handed the Chinatown Case against the Chang family to a federal prosecutor who claimed jurisdiction before he'd actually been able to finish his own trial proceedings for the case.
It had been Olivia's birthday, of course, so they'd all gotten together for a small birthday dinner for her and he and Noah made her breakfast in bed.
They'd also had another visit from Sofía's caseworker, and with how things were going it was looking more and more like their adoption in a few month's time was not going to be challenged; no relatives coming forward.
They'd also finally received the invitation to the wedding of Amanda Michelle and Dominick Carisi, Jr. It was going to be a small wedding, just the SVU family, Amanda's kids, and Carisi's immediate family.
Jesse was going to be the flower girl, Billie still being a bit too young, and Noah had been asked to be the ring bearer by the couple, which the boy was excited about when they'd been over for lunch the previous weekend.
Blessedly, things had finally calmed down again. However, Olivia had to spend the day at a DNA conference she'd been 'asked' by Cheif Dodds to attend. Rafael was done court by two o'clock, set to reconvene the next day, and with the overtime he'd had lately decided to pick Noah up from school and go home and be with the kids, bringing a couple of his files home so he could work if the need arose.
He and the kids were walking down 10th Avenue. Well, Rafael was walking, pushing Sofía's stroller; the eight-and-a-half-month-old babbling happily, having already started to say 'Mama' just the other day. Noah was on his scooter, zooming down the sidewalk, more than a little happy that winter had finally come to an end.
"¡Ay! ¡Frena, vaquero!" Rafael quipped. He was amused by the enthusiasm but didn't want Noah to lose control and get hurt accidentally. (Ay! Slow down there, Cowboy!)
Noah slowed down to a stop as asked and then spoke to Rafael. Something had clearly caught the young boy's attention. "¡Papi, mira!" (Papi, look!)
Catching up with Noah, and following the boy's line of sight, Rafael noticed that there was something on the wall. There seemed to be posters of a bike with what looks like an angel with its eyes covered behind it, along with the words 'a bad dream?'
Noah noticed another group of posters with an image of a police officer with a pig face, and a caption that read: Do nothing Donnie asked what I was wearing.
He shook his head, glancing around. He immediately distracted Noah, tone casual as he asked the boy to grab something for him from Sofía's bag.
There was yet another group of posters and then another one. The third group of images had a devil, spearing an angel, which was captioned, 'Shut up you angel whore.' He shook his head, more than a bit stunned.
"Aquí tienes," Noah said, passing him the baby wipes. (Here you go.)
"Gracias, Mijo," he said. "¿Puedes guardarlos para mí?" (Thanks, Mijo. Can you put those away for me?)
He quickly wiped the drool off of Sofía's face and took another look around as he distracted Noah some more.
He was stunned when he saw the huge billboard above them. It was of a woman dressed like a Wonder Woman-like person, shooting fire at a strip club, with a caption: On December 10th I was raped. I told my boss, I told NYPD. They tried to shut me up. But silence makes me louder.
Shaking his head, he told Noah to run ahead to the book shop just ahead, 192 Books, telling the boy he'd catch up in a minute.
Making sure the boy was in his line of sight, he quickly snapped photos, sending them to Olivia and Fin. If what he figured happened, he'd enjoy bringing Dodds in and costing a beyond useless police officer their job.
"¿Eran esos carteles para una película?" Noah asked as they were looking around the shop for a couple of books. (Were those posters for a movie?)
"No lo sé," he replied, "pero ciertamente no es una película para niños." He was not going to explain his suspicions to Noah, and, thankfully, the boy seemed more than content with that explanation. (I don't know, but it's certainly not a kids' movie.)
He had a brief phone call with Fin, who had assured Rafael that he'd be checking OLCS and going over any reports filed in Manhattan South on the date that had been given. Stating that it must have been the possible victim's local precinct.
There was a brief text exchange between Fin, Olivia, and himself regarding the mess, and then Rafael then focused on the kids again, letting the detectives do their jobs. He couldn't do anything at the moment anyway.
He threw his phone back in his pocket and started chatting with Noah who was showing him a book he'd found and how a friend from school had recommended it to him, having enjoyed it themselves.
Rafael noticed a man standing off to the side with, presumably, his own son, mumbling something and shooting dirty looks their way. Thankfully, Noah didn't seem fazed or to really notice it and just ran off to pick another book.
Rafael set his jaw and strutted over to the man, speaking in a tone that was clearly biting. Rafael was far from pleased. "Can I help you?"
"Oh, so you do speak English," the man sneered.
He raised an eyebrow. "I'm rather fluent, yes." What a moron.
The man gave a snort. "Good. Then you'll understand this." The man stepped forward, getting in Rafael's face. "Your kind aren't welcome here."
He rolled his eyes but took a slight step back. "My kind? You'll have to elaborate for me." He smirked. "Would that be the 'Ivy League graduate' kind or the 'Criminal Prosecutor' kind?" He was deliberately playing obtuse, irritating the man. "Oh wait, you meant Latinos." He took a step forward, his legs close together with his weight pushed forward. His head and chin were tilted forward as well.
"Yes," the man hissed. "You should all be sent back to where the hell you came from."
He forced a laugh. "That'll be a short taxi ride. I'm actually from the city. Unlike you, I suspect." The man had probably moved there for work, like tons of other New Yorkers. "I'm a born and raised New Yorker from Jerome." He took another step forward. "Feel free to keep your ignorance to yourself." With that, he started walking away. The man went to punch him, and Rafael just smirked. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Manhattan District Attorney, remember?"
"Asshole," the man snarled.
He turned around, smirking. "I've been called much worse, hijo de puta." The man was glaring, evidently understanding what Rafael had said, but didn't speak. Pleased, Rafael walked away, going to find Noah and finish their shopping. He wasn't about to let that ignorant asshole dictate anything. (Son of a bitch.)
After picking a couple of new books, they spent most of the afternoon at the park until Rafael decided it was time to go home. They got Noah's homework done, tidied the boy's room up some, played legos, and just relaxed around the house, music playing softly in the background, until it was time for Rafael to make dinner.
With Sofía in her playpen, Rafael let Noah do his thing while he started on dinner. The boy had opted to sit down and read one of the new books he'd just picked out. Rafael was making pastel de pollo for dinner with a Cuban-style avocado salad and decided on some dulce de fruta bomba for dessert.
Once everything was finally done, except for the pastel de pollo which still needed to cook, he started tidying up the mess that he'd managed to make. He'd also taken the dishes down, out of the cupboards, to make it easier for Noah to put them on the table. Olivia had also texted, letting him know that she was finally on her way home from work. "¡Noah, ven a poner la mesa, por favor! (Noah, come and set the table, please!)
"¡Ok, papi! ¡Ya voy!" Noah called back, and he could hear the kid walking towards the kitchen mere moments later. (Okay, Papi! Coming!)
"¡Gracias!" (Thank you!)
Rafael smiled, the tension from earlier completely gone. How he'd ended up here, with such a good kid, an adorable baby, and incredible wife, remained to be seen, but he was thankful for every minute of it.
With that thought, he went to grab a now fussing Sofía, who he figured was probably due for a bum change at that point. Not one of his favourite activities.
He snorted to himself. He really had no idea how he ended up a family man, especially when just a few, not so short, years ago even having a long term relationship, let alone getting married, would have seemed unthinkable, to everyone, including himself.